Committees

Tackling fraud and corruption against government

Inquiry

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government Counter Fraud Function estimated that the level of taxpayer loss from fraud and error was already between £29.3 billion and £51.8 billion annually.

Over the past two years the level of taxpayers’ funds lost to fraud has risen due to the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 the Government established the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) as a new centre of expertise for the management of fraud and corruption against the government and the public sector.

The Committee will question senior officials at the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, on government’s capability to counter fraud and corruption risks against it, and the challenges that the PSFA will face to embed best practice counter fraud practices across government. Questioning will include whether government: 

  • understands the fraud and corruption risks it faces
  • has the right capability (people, data, processes and systems) deployed against those risks
  • is well placed to improve its counter fraud and corruption capability.

This work covers fraud and corruption against the public sector. This includes those risks that lead to a loss to the taxpayer or where there is abuse of government processes to achieve a financial gain. The inquiry will not consider fraud against individuals or businesses, and the Committee cannot investigate any individual cases of alleged fraud or corruption which should be referred to the relevant investigatory body.

If you have evidence to inform this questioning, please submit it here by 23:59 on Tuesday 2nd May.

Please have a look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note the Committee cannot accept as evidence material that has been published elsewhere.

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Tuesday 2 May 2023.

Reports, special reports and government responses

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Sixty-Ninth Report - Tackling fraud and corruption against government
Inquiry Tackling fraud and corruption against government
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Report
Response to this report
Joint correspondence from James Bowler, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, and Catherine Little, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, and Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service, re Treasury Minute Response – Tackling fraud and corruption against government, dated 3 April 2024
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Correspondence
Response to this report
Correspondence from James Bowler, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Treasury Minute Response – Tackling fraud and corruption against government, dated 3 April 2024
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Response to this report
Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, to Sir Alex Chisholm, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, and James Bowler CB, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, re Treasury Minute response – Tackling fraud and corruption against government, dated 27 February 2024
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Response to this report
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-ninth report from Session 2022-23
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Government Response

Correspondence

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Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, re Tackling fraud and corruption against government: supplementary evidence, dated 25 May 2023
Inquiry Tackling fraud and corruption against government
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Correspondence
Correspondence from Alex Chisholm, Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, re Tackling fraud and corruption against government: supplementary evidence, dated 25 May 2023
Inquiry Tackling fraud and corruption against government
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Correspondence

Oral evidence transcripts

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15 May 2023
Inquiry Tackling fraud and corruption against government
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Oral Evidence

Written evidence

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Mr Geoff Bantock (TCG0001)
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Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (TCG0002)
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Transparency International UK (TCG0003)
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Other publications

Government Responses
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